minnesota and lots of stuff

Well I finally have a moment and thought I would try to get into my account as I havent been able to get into it. I know it's been a long time since i blogged but I didnt even know if anyone noticed but I had a few references to the fact that I dont update very often. I dont know what keeps me so busy, but day after day slips by and before I know it it has been a month since I last made an entry.

A lot has been going on. Sheila had her 24th birthday. Emily had her 19th birthday. Sheila had 2 showers for the baby and one was at my house. Today actually! Alisha graduated from college. Tom and I have made 2 trips to Roxboro for Sheila's birthday and shower given by her church. Tom made 2 trips to Boone, one to get Emily home from her first year of college and one to spend a weekend at the mountain house for Alisha's graduation. So I guess I do see why I dont have time to Blog.

Emily and I just got back from a week in Minnesota and other than a miserable delay in Charlotte on our way to MN, we had a wonderful week visiting family over mother's day. The weather was just so great for Minnesota. It was warm during the day and cool in the evening. No mosquito's!!! that is a great plus. We had a wiener roast and lots of fun game time and rest time and eating time. thanks all you Minnesotan's. Now we had a shower for Sheila today and this is the last time we will see her before she has her baby. It was kinda strange to think about that. Andrew and Sheila will not just be a couple anymore. They will be a family. I know it will change everything for them. We are so looking forward to holding our grandchild and loving her. Now we just have to wait. Only God knows the day of her birth. It is and exciting time for our family.

PS Tom's Buffalo Sabers Lost. They are out of the playoffs for the Stanley cup. He is devastated. They were so close. Maybe next year, or maybe the Buffalo Bills will win the Superbowl.

being a grandmother

I will be a grandmother in 9 weeks. I am getting pretty excited to see my little granddaughter. She is already such a special part of my heart. I am so amazed to watch Sheila await Olivia's birth. She is becoming more and more motherly. From not really wanting to be a mom, to maybe she would adopt to finding out she was pregnant has been such an incredible change. I can see that she already loves this child and will be a wonderful mom. It is so wonderful how God prepares us for the jobs He gives us to do. I know that Sheila and Andrew will be wonderful parents. I know that Alisha and Emily will be awesome auntie's. And I know that Tom and I will love this little girl more than we can imagine. Love is such an amazing thing. The more you have to give it to, the more it comes back to you.

Spring

Spring

I love this time of year. For as long as I remember I have loved spring. I guess growing up in Minnesota where winter seems so long made me appreciate spring more than any season. The trees are budding and all the flowers are blooming and the temperatures are just right. I love cleaning out closets, opening windows, laying in the sun, smelling fresh cut grass, and getting time to eat out on the patio. It's just the best. It feels like a new beginning, kinda like New Years again. I fall in love every spring with my husband, my kids and my life. Everything seems OK. I love Spring.

rainy days

I love rainy days and a good book. That's all I got to say about that.

Knowing who I am

Do you ever wonder who you are? Maybe it is because I am now 46 but as I get older, I question who I am. I know I am getting older. My body has made a few changes in the past few years but I still feel that inside I am the 16 year old I was back in the 70's. Maybe a lot wiser and less tolerant. I cant explain it. I keep trying to figure out if I am happy with what I am doing or if I should make some changes to my life. I suppose I should leave well enough alone as many changes have been made for me whether I like it or not.( I am going to be a grandmother. Tom and I have an empty nest as all our girls are in college or married and working.) I am older in what a lot referr to as midlife. But who knows if this is midlife for me. I may be gone next week from this world. Then my midlife would have been 23. Or I could live as long as my parents who are 85, in which case their midlife is so far 421/2. Who knows but God. I just know that some days I really love my life and some days I wonder if I should be doing something else with my life. Mainly my job. I have spent the last 13 years working at a chiropractic office. I have learned everything there and I have a lot of flexibility. But some days I am tired of it and wish for something a little more exciting or just different. I dont know if anyone else has felt like this. What should I do? Mainly I pray and ask God for direction. I only want to please Him, and so far He hasnt shown me anywhere else to go. So for now. I know that I am Sharon and I am an office manager for the chiropractors. And I am loved by my family. I think that is enough for me. At least today.

Baby Girl

I havent posted in awhile but it just seems like there is not too much to write. I am in the winter blahs.Except for the one bright spot in the past few weeks. I do have news about my grandchild. It is a GIRL! I am in shock. I was so sure that it was going to be a boy you could have blown me over with a feather. I am very excited and anxiously awaiting to hold the sweet little girl. Her name is Olivia Grace. We are really having fun looking at baby things now and little cute dresses and outfits. I pulled all my baby things out of the attic and washed them up for Sheila. Some are outdated but some will be very useful and cute on Olivia. This sure is a new season of our lives and we are excited!

Photo's galore and memory's too

Part of my empty nest syndrome projects include redoing my photo albums. I have thought about it now for months. I didnt want to get into the project until I really knew what I was going to do and how. I finally bought the albums I want and then decided to pull everything out of my previous albums and seperate them by years. Then I will pick out the best pictures to put in my new albums to be on a shelf so that I can easily look at them and share them with friends and family in order. This is a very difficult job and I spend so much time reminissing about all the wonderful times our family has had. It is really a trip down memory lane. I have just started going through the pictures and already I am overwhelmed. It will be wonderful when the project is done and all organized as I dreamed. I want it to be a project I enjoy doing. But being the crazy woman that I am once I start a project I cant wait to finish it and I drive myself nutty. I hope I can enjoy the process. It is actually a very nice winter project. When spring comes I am cleaning out the attic. Sheila and Andrew moved into a larger house and have plenty of storage now, so since half the attic is Sheila's stuff I will pull it down and take it to her in Roxboro to put wherever she wants. Then my attic will be organized. Mostly! I know, I know. I am a little over the top with cleaning and organizing. But it is just who I am. I dont know if I would be happy if everything was clean and organized. So here's to my photo project.

New Year 2007

It's the new year. I dont know how it got here but it has arrived. I like the start of a new year. It seems like a chance to start over. I dont appreciate when I mess things up right away. But I usually do. With a harsh word or the same old mistakes of saying things that dont need to be said. I guess that is all part of being human. Thankfully God gives us new beginnings all of the time. With a new minute,hour,day,season, or year. We certainly need them. I do anyway. I appreciate all that God has done for me in the past and I really appreciate all that he will do for me in the future, including 2007. Happy New Year.

almost christmas

While i have a moment and I thought that I would just post a small article. I have enjoyed this holiday season and I am very excited for Christmas to come. I love everything about it. The anticipation is almost as fun as the real thing. Our tree is beautiful this year and I enjoyed the shopping, baking and sharing all the events. We had a lovely christmas party for my workplace and our church musical was tremendously beautiful. The prison christmas party went so flawlessly and God did some amazing things this year through willing people who helped out and were used by Him. The youth choir did a fantastic job at the prison service and touched many inmates. I have enjoyed walking around the mall with Tom for a evening and just looking at stuff and people and the kids getting their picture taken with santa. We went to the movie The Nativity and I highly recommend it for anyone. It was touching to say the least and really brings you back to the true meaning of Christmas. I LOVE spending time with my girls and their boyfriends. I cant wait to see Sheila and Andrew and Max on Christmas. I love the christmas movies on tv and eating all the christmas treats. As you can see I just love it. God has been so good to me and all I can say is Thanks God for this wonderful time of year and for the amazing gift of Your Son Jesus. Without it there would be no Christmas.

No Time

I would love to post but no time. I have to wrap presents after I buy them. Make cookies and get them ready to send off. Mail packages. Do our christmas cards and clean our messy house. Decorate our tree and then who knows what. Isnt it wonderful. Celebrating the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ?!

Thanksgiving is still my favorite

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I love that there is really no commercialism about it. You get together with family and friends and are thankful. This year for some reason was better than ever. Maybe it's the fact that just getting my girls together for something is special to me. Sheila and Andrew came on Wednesday and that night we went to Tom's thanksgiving service at the prison. Nothing flashy but a time for all our family to be together and hear the Word of the Lord from Tom. We shared communion and worshipped God. ( kinda hard to commercialize that) Then we all piled into my car and the kids all yelled Krispy Kreme! Well what was I to do. We drove over to the donut place and made a memory. When we got home we sat on the floor with the box of donuts just like we used to and had donuts and milk and played a game. It was sooo fun. Now keep in mind we had a room full as Andrew and Matt, Alisha's boyfriend were there. I cant wait until all my girls are married and have wonderful husbands and we share precious laughs and joys together. We went to bed and then the next morning I woke up to the great smell of the house from Tom getting up early to cook the turkey. There is no greater thing to me than that day. I then get up and hang out with Tom and read the sale add for the day after. The kids eventually get up and we all look at the sale adds together and talk about what we will maybe like to get. Andrew kind of messes up the sale adds and we have to give him a hard time about that,but once again it is all part of the memories. Then we get the dinner together, our guests arrive and we have a meal of beauty. Then we talk about things that we are thankful for. We clean up and lay around go for a walk and eat pie and play games and rest. In the evening our family does different things like watch Survivor or sleep. This year Emily had to go to work at 12am. Friday morning some of us brave the stores early. Usually just me and Alisha. Andrew and his dad. But we have the best time together. We dont fight for things. We just enjoy the whole thing of being together and maybe getting a few gifts. Then we come home and rest and have left overs. Isnt that the best time to think about? How is your Thanksgiving? I hope it is as special as mine and I hope you can think of something to be thankful for.

My blog is not working

I am technically challenged. My blog hasnt been posting my new entries. I dont know what to do. Someone help me. I want to share my new stories but it stays in October. What should I do?

Wheelwright Kentucky

This past weekend Tom and I went as leaders for our youth mission trip with Operation Warm up. We had 10 youth and 5 leaders. We drove to Wheelwright Kentucky and had a wonderfully blessed time. We worked with other churches in the Charlotte area to help in several different areas in Kentucky with the local churches there. We handed out a lot of blankets, coats, warm clothes, socks and bibles. The youth worked one on one helping with each family to get what they needed and then they prayed or talked with them about the Lord. It was so awesome to see all the youth be so compassionate with the people in need. There are very many people in need in our country. Most of these families are coal miners and make a very small wage. About $15,000 a year. Not too many people can live on that very well. It was very eye opening to me and I sure do appreciate that our youth learned alot about need on this trip too. I also loved getting to know some of our youth better. God is so good. I am so blessed to have the opportunity to go on these trips. Thanks Lord for allowing me the chance to do these things for You!

falling leaves

Have you tried to keep the leaves off of your newly planted lawn in the fall before?
Well we are trying and it is almost impossible. Today I was blowing the leaves and Tom was mowing and bagging and we got almost done and I watched as the wind blew tons down on us and it barely looked like we did anything. I had to laugh there was nothing else to do. We have been doing this for the past 6 weeks, it seems. I love having trees but my love leaves me in the fall. No pun intended. I think we only have a few days off falling terror left and then they should be all gone. Then what will I do on my weekends and day off?

what happened to trick or treat

It is halloween and Tom and I sat on our porch. Had all the leaves swept up. Lit candles had our candy ready and waited and waited. Finally we ate some of the candy called our moms and waited. No trick or treators. How sad. We reminised about when our girls were little and we took them out to get candy. There were so many kids out you couldnt get down the street. Now there are hardly any kids. What has happened? Did everyone grow up? We ended up having 8 kids come to our house. And they didnt even say trick or treat! I had to ask them, "what do you say?" then they said trick or treat. What are the parents teaching the kids these days. I mean come on. I feel sad. I think some things just dont seem as fun anymore. Our world is changing. I miss my trick or treators. I like looking at all the cute little costumes and seeing the excitment of candy on the kids faces. Hey...... I just had 3 more kids come to the door. It is 8:39 but that is ok. I am encouraged. yeahhhhhhhh

I really like having friends

Today my friend Wanda and I went to Boone for a day off. Our original goal was to hike but we actually never got to do that. We had lunch with Alisha and Emily and then we shopped at the shops in Blowing Rock and The big christian book store which you better have lots of time if you go in there. Wanda bought a beautiful picture with a neat scripture on it. The kind of picture you look at and it takes your breath away and then you read the scripture and want to cry because your spirit is blessed. She bought all the clothes she was looking for and a christmas decoration for work. I bought a great pair of pants and a sweater. I look goooooooood in them. We talked and laughed and just had a really nice day. The mountains were gorgeous with color and it ended up being a sunny beautiful day. Especially on the way home. I love having a good friend. She doesnt care if I talk too much and I dont care if she does. We share what's in our hearts and mind. I feel refreshed. Thanks God for a great day off and for a wonderful time with my friend.

my poor Titus

I dont know how many of you have cats, but I have two. One of them is a male named Titus. He is very loving and if I cry he will come and sit by me. If I am sick, he will lay on me and purr. He also is a very curious kitten and climbs on our roof to get a better view of birds and things. He has been getting in fights with another male cat that comes on our property. I had to take him to the vet a couple weeks ago because he got so beat up he had infection on his chest that was draining. It was terrible. But it cleared up and he was doing much better. While we were in Minnesota he must have gotten in another fight and this time his face is swollen like a down syndrome child. He looks really sad. He started smelling bad too, so I know he has an infection, but Tom wont let me spend anymore money taking him to the doctor. I started doing hot compresses on his face and started trying to squeeze out the infection. He is not tolerating this very well. I am sure it hurts him pretty bad. But the smell is the worst!! It did start opening up tonight and I feel pretty good about that. It is not a pretty sight and I think that I would prefer that he not get in anymore fights. Please pray for him. I love my cat.

To Minnesota

Hi, I have had a few busy weeks. I went to Minnesota last week for 5 days as my parents are celebrating 60 years of marriage. That is so amazing dont you think so? We had a good visit. Tom and I went together. No kids this time. They have to be in college or teach school. Although Emily really wanted to come. We had a layover in Chicago but didnt get off the plane. We just needed to get more passengers and then head to Minnesota. So while we were there it started snowing harder and harder. pretty soon we were attemping to leave and they said we had to be deiced. This is on the 12th of October mind you. After an hour of waiting we finally got deiced only to fly into Minneapolis and still have snow. It is amazing to leave Charlotte one day and have 75 degrees and then fly to Minnesota the next day and have 28 degrees. My body doesnt know what to think. I guess it thinks it is a hormonal thing. Anyhow we had a great visit. It was actually nice 2 days there. We helped to celebrate. I got to see all my family and visit for a little while. We played some cards and games and ate lots of junk. I love Minnesota. I love my family. I really miss them sometimes, but it's always nice to come home.

Grandmother?

Well I have some interesting news. I was informed by my eldest daughter that I am to be a grandmother. Well I was shocked to say the least. I had been told for a year or more that I would not be a grandmother unless it was a chinese baby or from another country. I am afraid that I did not react correctly and if I could do it over I would have screamed like Liz(andrew's mom) did. I yelled at Sheila and said are you tricking me? Well after she said no and I could see she meant it. I was overwhelmed. (Im sorry I didnt scream, Sheila).

I have loved the thought of my own grandchild for a little while but was certainly willing to wait. However, I dont have to anymore! I am quite certain it is a cute little blond boy. He will be the best and the most fun of all children. Tom and I are going to be the best and most fun grandparents ever. And we will certainly love the kid like noone else could. I only wish that I would not have to drive 3 hours to see him. But I am thankful that it is not more. I have 8 months to prepare for being a grandma. I dont know if they have classes for this or not. I never heard of any. Maybe someone should start that,"Grandparents Class". I would take it.
Andrew and Sheila are gonna be the best parents. I cant wait to see them holding their first child. It is a blessing like no other. Giving your life to the Lord. Saying "I do" to the one you love. And holding your first child or second or third child are the three most wonderful events in life. Wow,God is good.

My life has been so unbelievably blessed in the past few weeks. I know the favor of God is upon me. Thanks Jesus!